You don’t?
3 Likes
Treating an injury with simple soap and water is a good start vs triple ab ointment.
Most issues will be fine with that.
My sil was freaking out about treating a deep cut on her 85+ yo mother’s arm, from a nasty dirty aluminum screen door, with Neosporin.
Uh, she’s over 85, putting Neosporin on a cut from a nasty source like that is a good idea. 🤦
3 Likes
As has been pointed out, this is NOT a sudden change. It’s been coming for 5 years, and manufacturers, retailers, veterinarians, and farmers have all known about it.
The huge corporate-type production livestock facilities generally have a full-time vet employed and will not be affected. Many of our farmers’ Co-Op stores here now have a staff veterinarian as well, which has turned into an excellent model for keeping large animal/livestock veterinarians available in rural areas. The vet gets a salary from the store, so there’s some stability there, and the store and its customers also benefit. Really a win/win situation all around.
My vet clinic is 80 miles from me and does not do emergency farm calls in my area (because then the on-call vet could end up too far from the clinic to treat another emergency). For after-hours care, my vet will happily do a quick phone consult based on photos/videos I send and provide instructions for treatment that way. If I need medications on a weekend, he’ll put them in the clinic mail box, and I drive to pick them up. If the problem is severe enough that the horse needs to be seen NOW, then I will load up and haul to either the clinic (for stiches from whoever is on call, etc.) or the vet school 100 miles away - which is probably where a horse in that serious of a condition is going to end up anyway.
Honestly, most horse people WAY overuse antibiotics. Not EVERY small cut or sniffle calls for them, and blindly treating them (almost always with SMZs) is just asking for resistance to develop. And don’t even get me started on backyard chicken people when it comes to this subject…
9 Likes
That is interesting. I have not experienced that yet for large animal with the exception of places like FarmVet, ABBA, etc.
Do Co-Op vets do treatments or just consultations?
How does it impact pricing for services?
Treatments and consultations. They are essentially running a practice that is subsidized by the Co-Op store.
https://www.unitedfhcoop.com/livestock#animal-health
https://www.smfc.coop/careers
As far as pricing, I do not know. I haven’t inquired about that. As they’re primarily treating production livestock species, I speculate that the pricing is very reasonable.
1 Like
I’m not going to say it’s why we bought this place, but being around the corner from an equine hospital is a huge stress relief.
3 Likes
That is awesome. I ask about pricing because with small animal, it seems to go both ways— you either get big box store pricing with big box store quality service… or, it drives up pricing for everyone because the store is taking a significant cut.
1 Like
How does that work? Does the vet make a farm call to examine the horse? Without an exam, there’s no valid veterinary patient client relationship?
We used to have a vet supply store that was owned by a vet. 30 years ago, you could walk in, talk to the vet about your horse, and he’d prescribe bute or antibiotics for basic, easy stuff. But that ended right around then, because of the VPCR issue…
The small backyard farmers like me are going to be affected the most. It’s HARD to find a vet to treat chickens and goats and I’m in a pretty populated area. I have no problem with anything for horses and have access to lots of horse vets. I’ve saved the life of a few chickens with an antibiotic shot and once my bottle is really expired I won’t have that option. I’m sorry but a chickens life isn’t worth a couple a hundred dollar visit to a speciality bird vet. I understand why they’re changing the laws because people over use meds but it’s affecting the small time backyard farmer the most.
5 Likes
Yes, it’s a fully functioning mobile vet service, in all the cases I’m aware of. Not sure how many treat horses, but the same concept applies to all species. There is no in-store vet clinic.
having a good VCPR means your vet is likely to be willing to get you the abx you might commonly need so you can have it on hand. That’s something that can be done today, and doesn’t change on 6/11
giving abx for strangles shouldn’t be an automatic thing
Strangles in Horses | VCA Animal Hospitals (vcahospitals.com)
6 Likes
Ah, gotcha. That’s a really cool service for a co-op to offer!
1 Like
Aside from Today/Tomorrow I had no idea I could buy antibiotics over the counter. I feel a bit dumb. Thankfully (touches wood) I haven’t had a need for them in a long time.
Not true anymore in my experience.
Most vets in this area absolutely will not write a script for antibiotics without seeing the horse first, as part of being proactive about resistance. The only ones still doing it around here are older vets who have been doing it for decades and are so close to retirement they aren’t going to change their ways.
I don’t blame them because there are far more abusers than people using them smartly.
But it’s a catch 22 because there really are situations when no vet is available.
there’s definitely more to it than that for sure. Some vets know their client is very competent and can do a lot of things on their own. A gross wound that can’t be stitched, but that can be cleaned and really should be given antibiotics for, there are totally situations where a vet knows the client can take care of the debriding and cleaning, and get them the abx they need. My vet would do that for sure, she’d love not having to drive 45 minutes to do something she knows I could do.
1 Like
My vets know I’m competent, haha. They don’t do it for anyone anymore. Not their largest clients, not for anyone.
You can’t tell people online they just need a good relationship or to show competence because times are changing.
NSAIDs, ulcer meds, basic sedation, etc.- no problem with my vets. They will also refill a prescription for abx if a horse needs to be on it longer.
But the days of selling clients big bottles of SMZs or similar “just in case” they need them are fading fast.
Hopefully with more telemed we can streamline this practice so it becomes “yeah, that wound looks gnarly, I’ll send a script to the local pharmacy for you.” Many vets are already doing that informally.
“likely to be willing” means it’s not a definite option, that’s why I said that. Not “will”.
Vets who haven’t done it before, aren’t likely to start now. Some may have gotten flack for “why her but not me” so have decided it’s all or nothing, and nothing is safer for sure.
MY vet would absolutely do this for me. I know others already do it as well. I also guess most don’t for a variety of reasons.
I have always told people that, and it’s even MORE important now. But also, I absolutely recognize that’s not always possible because of the lack of vets, or vets taking new clients.
1 Like
For 30 years my vets did it for me. No problem.
Then about 3 years ago my vet said, “we can’t do that anymore.”
I hope you know I completely agree with you about the relationships.
I’m pushing back because I feel like there needs to be awareness that times are changing. Animal owners need to start thinking about “plan b” because however you are handling medical needs right now may change in the not-so-distant future.
4 Likes
Another problem with the “big bottle of SMZs to use as needed” practice is that it rarely (at least hopefully!) gets used up before it expires. So, then you either need to dispose of the old meds, or, more commonly - sadly - the horse owner ends up using what is likely a less potent dose of meds…further contributing to antibiotic resistance. 
I’ve used SMZs exactly twice in the last 5 years - it is much more cost-effective to just buy what I need, when I need it!
Even my on-hand Bute and Banamine almost always expire before I use them up, but those are meds that sometimes can’t wait half a day when they’re needed, so I still keep them on hand and just deal with the extra cost.
3 Likes
See, I’ve heard this from the vets office before. Never from my vet while he is doing whatever with my horse.
